Conflicting Medical Reports Essay

In this paper I will give you a description of the case that was discussed, I will also discuss what you should do if conflicting medical opinions are presented by your general physician and the companies physician, and which medical expert’s advice counts more and why? I am also going to discuss if the case presented is a charge of discrimination and if it is relevant to this case and why? Lastly, if I was presented with a case similar to this what would I do? This case is about an employee named Donald Knolls who was an air traffic control supervisor for International Gateway Airport (IGA). In, 2007 Donald begun to experience depression and depression related problems due to severe stress caused by the job. In 2008, Donald was granted disability leave to undergo treatment for his illness. Eight months later and after extensive treatment and evaluations. Donald’s personal physician, and consulting licensed psychologist agreed that he could return to his former position. IGA sent Donald to their physician that they assigned to him to approve the disability, before they would sign off and approve him to go back to his supervisory job. After the evaluation of IGA’s physician concluded that Donald has made great strides to improving he should not return to his supervisory position because, the job conditions have not changed and Donald was apt to the stress too much. If Donald wants to return to work he must take a non-supervisory position for six months and be re-evaluated at that time to determine if he can return back to his supervisory potion. Donald was very angry and not happy with this arrangement and filed a grievance through IGA’s alternative dispute resolution procedure. After several meetings the employer maintained that they had the right to rely on the medical opinion of a fair and impartial physician who determined that Donald should not be returning to the position since that was the cause of the stress after all. Management pointed out the provisions of Donald’s disability leave which stated that it may require appropriate documentation if it believes an employee is not fit to return to their former position. Donald hired an attorney to represent him and stated that the disability leave provisions were clear but, biased against the employee because they disregarded what their personal physician and psychologist stated. Donald’s lawyer also stated that he was a victim of discrimination based on his formal state of depression. The medical expert that IGA assigned to the company has assigned to the case should take some precedence, but that the expert physician should take in consideration or even consult the personal physician and psychologist that was treating Donald. The company hires their own physician’s due to the high risk job that is in questioning. The company makes sure that their employee’s are fit to work and make sure that all of the planes take off and land safely. Also, some companies have their own physician’s due to insurance purposes, if they get a physician assigned to them especially in airline field, the liability insurance is probably cut. Discrimination can be part of the situation but, if you think about it it could go both ways. I Donald’s eyes yes he is being discriminated against because, he did a good job, got help for is problem, and is ready and willing to go back to his position, thinking that the company would hold his position since they are the ones that approved his disability. But, if you see it on the companies side, then no they are not being discriminating against Donald, they are making sure that the safety of everyone at the airport and all the airlines, employees, and passengers are safe, they are making sure that he is not going to be a liability to them and everyone else. If I was in this situation and presented a case like this I would study Donald’s case, speak with all three physicians and then bring this up with the Board or even the other managers and see what the best solution would be. It could be that he would be in a lower rank position for thirty days. But, I really feel that I would recommend for Donald to be put back into his position but to be watched and monitored very closely and make sure that everything is ok before he is let go on his own. If he proves to be ok, then everything is great but, if they see that the stress has gotten to him again then they can speak to him and see if there is another position or something that they can do for him. In conclusion, I have given you a description of the situation, gone over if the advice of the medical expert that the company brought forth or if you should go with the personal physician’s opinion, if the charge of discrimination presented by Donald’s lawyer relevant and if this case was presented to me what decision I would do. In job’s like an air traffic controller you must be able to put up with a lot of stress. Many people are not able to do the job, and the ones that can do it are special and that is why they make the money.